Sheet Metal woes

dave_franchino

hey folks, 

I'm not sure if this is a question or a vent.  One area where I've really struggled with Onshape is their sheet metal module.  This is one of the few functions that's sent me scurrying back to Solidworks. It just appears to be incredibly limited and buggy. 

My latest woe is being unable to clip a corner out of a very simple box.  All I want to do is a put a notch in the side of a flange - but Onshape simply won't do it.  This was supposed to be a very simple start of what was going to be a more complex design - but if I can't even get it to do this it doesn't seem to be worth trying. 


I'm very used to being able to "unfold" a part in Solidworks - add cutting or flange operations and fold it back up. Onshape doesn't appear to have that functionality and very simple sheet metal functions seem to be failing left and right.

Someone want to talk me off the ledge here? Is Onshape sheetmetal better than I'm giving it credit for and I just need to learn to model differently?

Thoughts???? 

GWS50

There is a sheet metal Tab on the right hand side of the main window. if you open this up you will see the flat pattern(s) of the sheet metal parts. You can start a sketch directly onto the flat pattern.

eric_pesty

@dave_franchino
Not sure why that cutout is failing, is the sketch on the "inside" face? I can't tell from the image, you may wan to try to extend the cutout to go all the way to the edge of the other flange (and/or cut it out from the "outside in"). 
Otherwise as @GWS50 says the flat is always available to sketch on (without needing to unfold/fold). 

There are definitely a few areas were Onshape isn't quite as flexible whent it comes to sheet metal, for example it's quite picky with trying to add/remove material in the flat around corner bends.

Regarding your workflow comment, there are a couple things that do produce better results and worth getting used to:
One key workflow that really helps (and you wouldn't have used in SW) is the "move face", it's an integral part of the Onshape sheet metal process and worth playing with (for opening corners, moving entire flanges, etc...)

Also starting from a solid and converting to sheet metal "later" in the process can be very efficient (but takes a bit of getting used to). Here's an example of how that works: https://youtu.be/NLwCGwHd2tE?t=132 (there are two other videos in the series going over more "traditional" methods)

Last thing worth noting: it seem they have done some significant "re-write" of the sheet metal stuff for adding support to countersunk/counterbored holes in the flat and there have been some new bugs introduced in the process. I'm currently dealing with some annoying instability in sheet metal that I really hope they fix soon...

If you can share a link to your doc we might be able to help, but if it's "wrong" make sure to file a bug report (Onshape actually takes these seriously and will investigate/fix, unlike some "other" software company...)

dave_franchino

Thank you!!!  This will help a great deal.  

don_b

I have "finished sheet metal part" ....made changes and then converted the changed part to a sheet metal part again in order to get an updated flat pattern.